Being an Online Entrepreneur

Wow, over the last eleven years of writing articles – I haven’t written many articles about entrepreneur’s ! So in a twisted away, I am answering the question of …

Why not?

Well, I was being an entrepreneur, and online most of the time.

What did I imagine ‘being an entrepreneur’ meant?

For me, entrepreneurial-ism meant finding ways to contribute to situations, offering my self-learnt skills, and giving my time and effort to situations that met with my ethics. This included being most altruistic by giving-away my various skills to the extra-curricular activities I was doing in my local community, and helping those less better-off than myself.

Entrepreneurs are people who connect willingly, find ways to communicate with both like-minded and non-like-minded people in such a way that they want to share information. Whether it be to complete a project that benefits all, or to resolve a complex issue, or to combine skills appropriately to help a third party. Each of these situations are either financially successful, or volunteered for the benefit of society.

I must also point out that entrepreneurs are able to lead by example:

They get their hands dirty, the minds are active, the contributions can be few but they are great. They brain-storm at all levels, the aren’t afraid to be proven wrong. Entrepreneurs don’t believe they are perfect, far from it in fact! They concede that any answer might have some merit, though not every contribution may make it into the final product or outcome.
That’s where entrepreneurs are winners: When they cannot find the answer, they find another way. They don’t settle for one answer, they give each offering it’s due. But they also know when to hold ’em, fold ’em, and when to get out and run.
But entrepreneurs don’t run: We validate our losses as opportunities to learn from and try again.

How did I become an ‘online entrepreneur’?

When I was started adding my photography to the internet about last six years, I’ve also found myself reading many thousands of amazing blogs, but found my focus was primarly upon those that encourged and supported entrepreneurialism. What I found most interesting that it is the backbone of much of the internet.

When Tim Berners Lee first began establishing the way the internet would appear for all of us, he was doing so because he believed in the future, saw where the world was going and believed whole-heartedly that what he could contribute would make a visual, verbal and volatile difference to the online world we all were living in. He was the first entrepreneur. He found, devised and implemented amazing ways for all us to connect and talk easily from many geographically-diverse locations around the planet.

Over the many years I have seen sites come and go. But it has been great to follow and read many that incite, develope and encourage entrepreneuriaism.

Here are just a few, some of which I still visit (though not as often as I should) to read about how social-entrepreneurialism is developing and making a difference:

BRW – I have been reading the BRW paper-magazine since the late 1980’s.
I’ve always seen it as the best magazine for inspiration. Particularly their lists of those people who make it into the top 100 each year! Now I periodically attempt to read it online.
Flying Solo – I joined this site about three years ago.
In the beginning I got involved with conversations, adding my quirky sense of writing where possible, but slowly moved toward reading and listening to the much more impressive skills of others. Heck, I readily admitted that I needed more help myself, so found myself reading and ‘liking’ many articles. These days I get and read their email-subscription. On occasion I have printed them for pinning anonymously on pin-boards at particular city-based locations wherein I have worked or visited. ;)

I read a few other sites, but these two get most of my attention! It was from these sites that I determined that I had become an online entrepreneur. Though not every day of the week.

My photography is always my main focus, but in conjunction with social, marketing, promotion and sales skills, I found I had become an ‘online entrepreneur’, and I continue being one.

Many men better than me have already published lists of characters befitting the entrepreneurial mindset. Here’s just a few of their many characteristics, each with links to the article at which they were found.

Again, this is just a small sample of the many traits of an entrepreneur. I have no doubt that those that read this will know more and suggest them in the comments!

Hope that helps you to understand a little better how my mind works. I am rarely in-active, my mind is always pondering new ways to make a dollar for myself or for donating/giving to someone else. All in between going to the day-job. Gotta have something to keep you humble, grounded and intune with reality: Being an entrepreneur is never easy.